carbonCa nonmetallic chemical element in Group IVa of the periodic table.

Although widely distributed in nature, carbon is not particularly plentiful (it makes up only about 0.025 percent of the Earth’s crust); yet it forms more compounds than all the other elements combined. In 1961 the isotope carbon-12 was selected to replace oxygen as the standard relative to which the atomic weights of all the other elements are measured; carbon-14, which is radioactive, is the isotope used in radiocarbon dating and radiolabeling.

Properties and uses.

Elemental carbon exists in three several forms, each of which has its own physical characteristics. Two of the its well-defined forms, diamond and graphite, are crystalline in structure; , but they differ in physical properties because the arrangements of the atoms in their structures are dissimilar. The A third form, called fullerene, consists of a variety of molecules composed entirely of carbon. Yet another form, known as carbon black, is amorphous in structure and includes charcoal, lampblack, coal, and coke, although X-ray examination has revealed that these substances do possess a low degree of crystallinity. Both diamond Diamond and graphite occur naturally on Earth, and they also can be produced synthetically; they are chemically inert but do combine with oxygen at high temperatures, just as amorphous carbon does. Fullerene was serendipitously discovered in 1985 as a synthetic product in the course of laboratory experiments to simulate the chemistry in the atmosphere of giant stars. They were later found to occur naturally in tiny amounts on Earth and in meteorites.

Pure diamond is the hardest naturally occurring substance known and is a poor conductor of electricity. Graphite, on the other hand, is a soft, slippery solid that is a good conductor of both heat and electricity. Because of their beauty, diamonds are valued as jewels and, because of their hardness, as abrasives for cutting, grinding, and drilling. Graphite is used as a lubricant, in paint, and, mixed with clay, as the “lead” of pencils; because it conducts electricity but does not melt, graphite also is used for electrodes in electric furnaces and dry cells as well as for making crucibles in which metals are melted. Molecules of fullerene take the form of spheroidal closed cages containing various numbers of carbon atoms and long, hollow cylinders (the latter being known as nanotubes). They show promise in a range of applications, including high-tensile-strength materials, unique electronic and energy-storage devices, and safe encapsulation of flammable gases such as hydrogen.

Each of the amorphous forms of carbon has its own specific character; hence, each has its own particular applications. All are products of oxidation and other forms of decomposition of organic compounds. Coal and coke, for example, are used extensively as fuels; charcoal is used as an absorptive and filtering agent and as a fuel and in the manufacture of gunpowder. In addition to its uses in making inks, carbon paper, typewriter ribbons, and paints, carbon black also is added to the rubber used in tires to improve its wearing qualities. Bone black, or animal charcoal, can adsorb gases and colouring matter from many other materials; a major use is in decolourizing raw sugar.

Carbon has two stable isotopes, carbon-12 (which makes up 98.89 percent of natural carbon) and carbon-13 (1.11 percent); five radioactive isotopes are known, of which the longest-lived is carbon-14, which has a half-life of 5,730 ± 40 years.

Compounds.

More than 1,000,000 carbon compounds have been described in chemical literature, and chemists synthesize many new ones each year. Much of the diversity and complexity of organic forms is due to the capacity of carbon atoms for uniting bonding with each other in various chain and ring structures and three-dimensional conformations, as well as for linking with other atoms. Indeed, carbon’s compounds are so numerous, complex, and important that their study constitutes a specialized field of chemistry called organic chemistry, which derives its name from the fact that in the 19th century most of the then-known carbon compounds were considered to have originated in living organisms. (See chemical compound.)

With hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and a few other elements, carbon forms compounds that make up about 18 percent of all the matter in living things. The processes by which organisms consume carbon and return it to their surroundings constitute the carbon cycle (q.v.).

Carbon is present as carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere in amounts of about 0.03 percent by volume, and it is dissolved in all natural waters. Carbon occurs in the crust of the Earth in the form of carbonates in such rocks as marble, limestone, and chalk and in hydrocarbons—the principal constituents of coal, petroleum, and natural gas.

At ordinary temperatures, carbon is very unreactive—it is difficult to oxidize—and it does not react with acids or alkalies. At high temperatures it combines with sulfur vapour to form carbon disulfide, with silicon and certain metals to form carbides, and with oxygen to form oxides, of which the most important are carbon monoxide, CO, and carbon dioxide, CO2. Because at high temperatures carbon combines readily with oxygen that is present in compounds with metals, large quantities of coke (an inexpensive form of carbon) are used in metallurgical processes to reduce (remove oxygen from) metal oxide ores, such as those of iron and zinc.

For a detailed discussion on the organic compounds of carbon, see organic compound. Many of the industrially important carbon compounds (both organic and inorganic) are treated in separate entries.